Singapore

Hybrid microgrid pilot takes shape in Singapore

SINGAPORE: A microgrid project being built in Singapore, comprising renewables, energy storage and diesel generation, could have potential application across the tropics.

Singapore's NTU is trialling a series of hybrid projects for deployment across south-east Asia

The population of the countries in south-east Asia, including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, stands at 625 million.

Around 125 million of these have either no or very sporadic access to electricity.

For these areas where deployment of integrated energy transmission systems is neither technically or economically viable, using diesel generators is the only option for electricity production.

The solution to provide clean, reliable electricity across the region lies in off-grid microgrids. However deployment in this type of infrastructure is limited to date.

To support the development of microgrids in south-east Asia, Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is leading the renewable energy integration demonstrator — Singapore (Reids) project.

When fully constructed Reids will be the largest hybrid microgrid test and research platform in the tropics.

The project will help to de-risk the commercialisation of microgrid technologies and systems, suitable for tropical conditions.

NTU is working with a consortium of global corporations, to test and demonstrate the integration of various technologies, including solar PV, wind, tidal, diesel, storage, waste-to-energy and power-to-gas technologies suitable for deployment in south-east Asia.